The San Jose Sharks on Wednesday signed defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic to a five-year contract extension through the 2017-18 season.

The contract, according to multiple reports, is worth $21 million total for a cap hit of $4.2 million—which makes it a good deal for San Jose.

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Sharks general manager Doug Wilson says Wednesday that the team extended Vlasic because he "can play in all situations and has blossomed into a very trusted player on both sides of the puck." He said the Sharks are "lucky to have him on our team for the next six seasons."

The 25-year-old Vlasic led the Sharks with 171 blocked shots last season, including a franchise-record eight on Dec. 23 vs. Los Angeles. In six seasons with San Jose, he has appeared in 471 regular-season games and racked up 133 points.

Beyond that, though, he's emerged as a defenseman who dually controls puck possession and plays against top competition. As noted by SB Nation's Fear the Fin, the only defensemen in the NHL to face both a higher quality of competition than Vlasic in 2011-12 and finish with a higher Corsi rate (an on-ice shot differential metric at behindthenet.ca that correlates with puck possession and scoring chances) were Nicklas Lidstrom and Kimmo Timonen.

Lidstrom, the Red Wings' certain Hall of Famer, retired after the season. Timmonen, 37, was an All-Star for the Philadelphia Flyers in 2012.